Ready to get my feet wet

[Gaby Liu]

Hi BiggerPockets community!

My name is Gaby and I m current reside in Irvine, CA,

Absolutely love this site and the content they post. I've recently started to search the information regarding rental properties.

I’m having a full time job and absolute love it, but I also want to invest my money on real estate and gain passive income, Buy and hold for long term. maybe I would become a full-time investor in the future, who knows?

I’m thinking of starting invest out of state since CA is too hard to cash flow.

My purchasing price is about $500k properties.

Still try to figure it out should I buy SF or MF, I have looked some turnkey companies they only have SF.

If I want to invest MF where should I look into?

SF or MF as a new investor?

That's just a bit of where I'm at right now and I can't wait to network with the community further!

Please excuse my grammar, English is not my first language 😊

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Gaby Liu:

@James Wise I looked some Cleveland property on BP market place , there are some cash on cash more than 20% , really ? Or I miss something?

 You could be maybe. Cleveland, like the rest of the Midwest has a ton of low cost real estate with high price to rent ratios but don't think it's the land of milk and honey or anything. Some deals are great but some are fool's gold. Just like any market out there you can make money if you know what you are doing and you can loose money if you don't know what you are doing. If you are looking at pro-forma's with super high returns you've got to check out the level of the neighborhood. For that I created The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods. The D and F neighborhoods really get people's attention on those pro-forma's but I caution brand new out of state investors who are thinking about starting there. It's really a savage game that is best left to local or more experienced operators. Investing there is more like entering a war than it is providing housing lol.

Here is my out of state punch list that I try to give out to new out of state investors whenever possible.

• Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core. Pick a solid B-Class suburban area. Perhaps a nice 1950's built bungalow.
• Always hire a 3rd party property inspector to give you an unbiased feel for the home. The reports are 40-90 pages long and go through the entire house in great detail.
• Get an appraisal. If your using financing the bank requires this. This is good. The bank isn't going to let you blow their money. They have more skin in the game then you do.
• Make sure you get clear title. If using a lender this is a non issue. They will make you do this. It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.
• Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.
• Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it. If you are risk adverse real estate, (especially out of state) is not for you.